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April 2005

Welcome to the April issue of Word Power, and hello to this month's new subscribers.

The new Word Smiths web site is up and (mostly) running: click here to view the new streamlined look.

On other fronts, the Mental Health Tribunal training materials that Jane's been developing with Walkgrove Ltd for the Scottish Executive have been approved, and the project is moving into the implementation phase. We're delighted to report that - apart from a few minor blips - the first road test went well. The programme is a classic example of good practice for blended learning: a tight combination of online self assessment and three different types of learning.

Nick is in the early stages of writing two new public sector self study packs. He's also been designing and producing the Spring 2005 issue of Hysbysu, the magazine of the South Wales WEA. Hysbysu contains many inspiring stories about how people in South Wales are organising their own education. So whenever you're tempted to think that learner autonomy is a recent concept, just remember that the WEA's been developing and implementing this approach for almost 100 years!

But it hasn't all been hard work this month. Here's a pic of some of the Abergavenny freelancers group blinking in the unaccustomed daylight on a long refreshing walk in the nearby Black Mountains. This loose collection of independents meets to eat, drink, network and make up for the fact that we can't gossip round the office water cooler. In this edition we include a feature on a founder member of the Abergavenny group, good friend and brilliant photographer, Toril Brancher.

 

In this issue:

• Interview with Toril Brancher
• Debating the future of training at the Trainerbase conference
• Nick's Grammar Slammer - Part 6: how to write plain English
• Updates on Word Smiths' publications.

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Toril Brancher

Since gaining a first class BA and an MA in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales Newport, Toril Brancher has become involved in a variety of photography projects and commissions. These include university teaching, producing 'The Photographers Archive' for UWN, and an artist in residency project with young people in Blaenavon. Her work has been exhibited in Britain and Australia and has been published in numerous specialist reports, promotional brochures and professional journals.

What first attracted you to photography as a career?

I fell into it rather than made a conscious decision! At first I just wanted to study photography, but was catapulted into the career when I came across the documentary photography course just down the road at the University of Wales Newport.

Originally it was purely a learning exercise to minimise the luck factor. It always seemed so haphazard - why I sometimes got a good picture, and sometimes not. Now paradoxically, after all these years that luck factor is the best thing about making pictures. Things that I could never ever plan and set up just seem to happen by luck when I put myself in a particular situation. But of course all the hours of study come into that brief moment when I take the decision to shoot.

What's the best way you've learned?

By looking at other people's work and reading about how they make their work. But best of all it's getting the chance to hear people talk about making pictures. This is valuable because it kind of takes the mystery out of how people produce their material. I also go to exhibitions as often as possible - and not just photography. I've just been to London to see the Matisse at the Royal Academy and that's a real inspiration.

How would you describe yourself now as a photographer?

I'm best known as an artist portraying the lives of teenagers. Two bodies of work - 'Good Night' and 'Mean Time' - have been shown in that bracket. I'm hoping to start a new piece of work this summer - also with teenagers as the subject matter. I've also been making a series of landscapes depicting the South Wales area. This work is about coming from somewhere else (Toril is Norwegian) and responding to where I live now. It's about having a different kind of landscape aesthetic and applying it to my surroundings here.

In addition I make socially engaged work which started out in Blaenavon with a group of teenagers using disposable cameras. They offered insights into their lives way beyond what I would have been able to do alone. I'm doing a follow on in Merthyr Tydfil now - this time with migrant workers. You'd be surprised where they come from: China, all around Eastern and Southern Europe, Turkey and South America.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

It's going to have to be having my pictures published in Portfolio magazine - in issue 35 of the catalogue of contemporary photography in Britain! And also having work shown in East International 2004 - the exhibition in Norwich.

Having to pick yourself up and get over it when you've been rejected! You have to remember that everything is totally subjective and try to find someone else. Finding funding for projects is very daunting too.

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What are your ambitions for the next five years?

I very much want to get another body of work under way and find an outlet for the landscape work. It's also my ambition to get involved more with photographic research. Because what came out of the Blaenavon work is the idea that people are visually very literate.

What advice would you have for photographers who are just starting out?

To use your contacts and any opportunities that come your way - and to persevere. You have to take some chances and some risks - but I think that people who are starting out are much more confident than I was or even still feel sometimes!

Toril Brancher: T (0)1873 853815, M (0)7939 046941, tbrancher@btinternet.com

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Debating the future of training at the Trainerbase Conference

Why does training fail more often than you think? How can stories help people to gain insights and change attitudes? Which personality type makes the best lover? What is the connection between a balloon and coaching? These were just a few of the questions that participants considered at April's Trainerbase Conference, held at Evesham's Cotswold Conference Centre.

For me the event was first and foremost an opportunity for networking and for finding out about new developments in training. And I wasn't disappointed - thanks to the tremendous creativity and enthusiasm of contributors and participants. Training Journal commissioned me to write a news article for the June issue and a more lengthy feature on the conference outcomes for the July one. Watch this space for more detailed info.

Trainerbase is a successful UK based website offering a marketing and networking platform for trainers and actors. Membership and services are growing fast - for more information click here.

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Nick's Grammar Slammer

Part 6: Writing plain English

In this issue of Word Power I'm going to wrap up the grammar slammer by taking a look at the rules of plain English. Previous grammar slammers have dealt with areas of grammar or punctuation which can cause difficulties and undermine our business communications. You can find them by clicking here and going to the back issues of Word Power.

1. Use short sentences

Research into reading and comprehension tells us that sentences should be, on average, 15 to 20 words long. Short sentences punch your message home. Long confused, rambling ones, on the other hand, may be easier to write in some cases, and very tempting for authors, many of whom find it impossible to resist the temptation to go on and on; but there is no doubt that they are unclear and frustrating for readers, who may get bored and fall asleep before they ever reach the end (still there? - see what I mean?).

The basic principle for business writing is to stick to one idea per sentence. However, this can end up sounding a bit monotonous, so it's OK to vary the pace from time to time and occasionally include one other related point.

A productive first step in making your sentences shorter is simply to take out the unnecessary words.

Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.

Frank L. Visco 'How to Write Good'

2. Use lists

Many sentences can be simplified and made easier to grasp by breaking the ideas they contain down into lists. But be aware that text that consists of one list after another is just as tedious as material made up of long complicated sentences. The answer is to use lists in moderation, where they are helpful.

You can produce a simple checklist using single words or a more complex one that lists whole clauses. You can introduce each item in the list using dashes (-) or bullet points ().

There are four basic food groups:

• Milk chocolate
• Dark chocolate
• White chocolate, and
• Chocolate truffles.

Anon

3. Use active verbs

It is good practice to make your writing as active as possible. 'Passive' documents tend to sound stuffy and bureaucratic, while active ones sound more crisp and professional.

When a sentence is passive the subject is acted on, and the sentence has an object-verb-subject order. For example:

The message will be articulated by us with great clarity. (Dan Quayle)

(object) (verb) (subject)

In an active sentence, the subject performs the action and the sentence has a subject-verb-object order. Mr Quayle could have said more directly (though he's still talking nonsense):

We will articulate the message clearly.

(subject (verb) (object)

Using active verbs will make your writing lively and personal, whereas passive verbs tend to make your communication dull, remote and hard to understand.

Here is another example of a sentence using passive verbs.

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me (Donald Rumsfeld)

The meaning of the sentence would be much clearer if Mr Rumsfeld had used an active verb:

I am always interested in reports that say that something hasn't happened.

But, of course, politicians have an instinctive love of passive constructions precisely because they lack clarity and accountability.

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3. Reveal hidden verbs

A common problem in English is to use nouns instead of verbs:

• 'Give advice' instead of 'advise'
• 'Hold a discussion' instead of 'discuss'
• 'Give attention to' instead of 'attend to'.

Like passive verbs, hidden verbs hide the action and make the text sound dull and pompous.

For example:

Your entitlement to a refund is unaffected.

would be better written as:

You are still entitled to receive a refund.

And finally:

"I'm going to make a prediction about the score - it could go either way." (Ron Atkinson)

might (without undermining Ron's ironic use of the crystal ball) be slightly better expressed as:

"I'm going to predict the score - it could go either way"

4. Use familiar words

Words that are unnecessarily complex and unfamiliar do not make your text seem more important or impressive - they merely form a barrier between you and your readers.

Don't use:

• Words and phrases that have long disappeared from both the written and the spoken language (notwithstanding, whilst, forthwith, deem)
• Two or more words where one would be enough (in order to, in view of the fact that, at a later date)
• Business clichés - such phrases are often old fashioned and impersonal in tone (at your convenience, thank you in advance).

This does not mean patronising the reader by using words of one syllable, but using the most common and straightforward language to express what you want to say.

Avoid clichés like the plague - they're old hat.
It behoves you to avoid archaic expressions.

Frank L. Visco 'How to Write Good'

5. Avoid jargon

To outsiders, jargon can be very intimidating. It's easy to get the idea that the people using jargon are deliberately trying to exclude others or to make themselves seem important.

The project is structured around multifaceted incremental work plan combining novel content design based on new pedagogical paradigms blended with the e-learning environments to facilitate hybrid mode of delivery.

Overview of the University of Reading GENIUS project
(winner of a 2004 Golden Bull Award from the Plain English Campaign)

The plain English rules about jargon are:

• Avoid it where possible - unless you're certain that it's part of your reader group's culture
• If you have to use it, either be sure that your reader understands it or explain it in your writing.

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Word Smiths publications

Unlock the secrets of successful reading

Are you drowning in a mass of e-mails, letters, books, reports and journals? If so Jane Smith's audio book Speed Reading for Success will help you learn how to be a truly effective reader. It's continuing to accumulate some very favourable reviews:

"An excellent product. The methods taught work extremely well, and you should be able to see enormous improvements to your reading and comprehension ... an ideal way to learn how to cope with the torrent of information we have access to these days."

Gerry Keegan Psychology (UK web magazine)

"A little bit of genius that will help you learn speed reading with ease ... an excellent idea and I wish we had thought of it first."

New Archaeology (USA)

"I would recommend this resource to anyone who needs to get through lots of material quickly and efficiently."

Training Journal (UK)

Speed Reading for Success is relaxed, fun to follow and clear. Everything is explained as you go along in clear language suitable for WEA learners at all levels. This reviewer recommends the course highly to anyone who wants to read faster and better.

Robin Cain (Hysbysu magazine, Spring 2005)

Speed Reading for Success is fantastic value: order it from Amazon for only £10.39.

Decision Making for Success

This e-book's obviously filling a need, because it's proving a very popular download.

Until we complete the rebuild of the buy page on our website, it's available free. Just click here.

 

 

In the pipeline

• Coaching for Success - supporting NVQs in the workplace
• Memory Techniques for Success - how to acquire, retain and retrieve vital information.

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